Official: Hundreds of UAE-backed troops arrive in Yemen’s Socotra

Troops backed by the UAE have arrived in the Yemeni port island of Socotra from the capital Aden, a Yemeni official said.

According to Information Minister advisor , Mukhtar Al-Rahbi: “These militias have been mobilised against the legitimacy and its components, to be the arms that carry out the directives of the UAE and the so-called Transitional Council.”

The troops are trying to locate a base in the area before more militias are sent to Socotra, he explained.

There have been numerous reports that Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been competing to impose sovereignty over the Yemeni island of Socotra by carrying out humanitarian relief activities.

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Last year the military transport planes from the UAE arrived on the island, unloading tanks and troops as part of the Gulf Arab state’s drive to extend its influence over a strategic Bab Al-Mandab waterway.

Hundreds of Yemenis marched through the city of Hadiboh, the capital of the Socotra Island, in protest against the UAE forces taking control of the governorate.

While the Yemeni government decried the deployment of Emirati troops on the island.